Hizma (Arabic: حزما‎; Hebrew: חיזמה) is a Palestinian town in the Jerusalem Governorate, seven kilometer from Jerusalem's Old City. The town, located in Area B, borders the Israeli settlements Neve Yaakov, Pisgat Ze'ev, Geva Binyamin and Almon. A small eastern neighbourhood of Hizma is called Hizmah.[2] Since 1967, Hizma is occupied by Israel. The village is cut off from Jerusalem by the Separation Wall in the west, which is built in 2005 on confiscated Palestinian land. As of 2007, Hizma had a population of about 5650 residents.[3] Hizma is cut off from the West Bank by a chain of Israeli settlements in the east.

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Albright and others identified Hizma with the biblical town of Azmaveth of the tribe of Benjamin.[4] However, Gibson more recently questioned this identification, citing the lack of archaeological remains from the necessary time period.[5] Towards the end of the Second Temple period, there was an industry here making fine stoneware from the local limestone.[6] Products included vases and bowls turned on a lathe, and mugs carved by hand.[6] Examples of stoneware that may have originated here have been found in many places in the Jerusalem region, mostly dating from the first and second centuries CE.[6]

In 1517, the village was included in the Ottoman empire with the rest of Palestine, and in the 1596 tax-records it appeared as Hamza, located in the Nahiya of Jabal Quds of the Liwa of Al-Quds. The population was 28 households, all Muslim. They paid a tax rate of 33,3% on agricultural products, which included wheat, barley, vineyards and fruit trees, occasional revenues, goats and beehives; a total of 2800 Akçe.[7][8]

In 1832, Edward Robinson found the village had been deserted for two months, as the villagers had "fled across the Jordan" to escape conscription.[9] In 1863 Victor Guérin found the village to have 200 inhabitants. He further noted that some of the houses, particularly the lower part, seemed to be built from ancient materials, and some cisterns also looked ancient.[10]

An Ottoman village list of about 1870 showed 51 houses and a population of 150, though the population count included only the men.[11] In 1883, the Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described Hizma as a "small stone village, standing high on a prominent hill, the slopes of which are covered with olives. It has a well to the west."[12]

In 1945 the population of Hizma was 750, all Arabs, and the total land area was 10,438 dunams of land according to an official land and population survey.[15] Of this, 200 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 2,338 for cereals,[16] while 45 dunams were built-up (urban) land.[17]

Under the Oslo II Accord, about 9% of the village area was assigned as Area B; the remaining 91% became Area C. Israel has confiscated thousands of dunums of Hizma's land for construction of settlements, bypass roads and the Israeli West Bank barrier. 19% of the village's total area was used to establish Neve Ya'akov, Pisgat Ze'ev and Pisgat Amir.[3]

The Wall, built in 2005 on confiscated Palestinian land, has isolated from the village some 40% of its land. Some of Hizma's Palestinian residents live on the Jerusalem side of the Barrier. An Israeli checkpoint is located on the Jerusalem municipal boundary at an opening in the Separation Wall. Only Palestinians holding Jerusalem IDs and settlers may access it without a special permit. Residents with a Palestinian ID are denied access to the City. Pisgat Ze'ev lies on the Jerusalem side of the checkpoint, while the town of Hizma lies on the West Bank side.[3]